5.10 in 40:16 (7:54). Another slow, easy run up Center St basically and then back home. Feel better today than the last two days, so hopefully I'm getting over the cold. Second run in the Nike Frees. I like them, but thought they would have a bit more support than what they do.

18.11 in 2:23:45 (7:56). Ran with Mark and started around 5 this morning. Did practically the same route as two weeks ago, only we didn't add much on. Kept things pretty easy and relaxed for a while. I felt good up until around 13-14. Then I started to get light headed. I think it was a fueling issue. Anyways took in some more fluids and eventually felt better. We picked up the pace a bit (7:30s) over the last several miles. Overall, legs felt pretty good and the miles clipped by pretty fast.

7.15 in 56:27 (7:54). Pioneer Crossing west down to the 2nd stop light. Then up to 500 South and east down to Center St. Eventually make it back to Pioneer Crossing and then I added on a bit at the end to get to 7. Legs are a bit tired from the long run on Saturday.

6.60 in 52:08 (7:54). Ran 700 South and eventually crossed Main St. by the new jr. high and headed out towards Willow Park. On the way back I attempted to do a similar "on/off" tempo, but my legs were dead.

PM 5.0 on the TM at around 8 min pace. Lifted for about 15 min. Had a 6:00 am meeting this morning so that ruined any plans to run in the morning. Ate terrible during the day and am tired, so this run wasn't very fun. Still nothing in the legs.

15.50 in 2:05:09 (8:04). Started at just after 5:30 this morning with Mark. It snowed pretty much the whole time, but wasn't too cold. We headed up to Smiths Mktplce and then up into Highland a bit and then back home. Seems like we climbed a lot for the first 6-7 miles and we were slower than normal for the first few miles. Picked up the pace the last few miles to try and catch the 8 min mark, but just ran out of distance.

This is the last long run before Boston. I will take things a bit easier this week, but Boston will not even be close to an all out effort for me. More of a glorified long run and hopefully I'll be able to just enjoy the experience and come in right around the 3:30 mark.

6.50 in 51:21 (7:54). Up to 300 West and back. Was going to try and keep things pretty normal this week, but I think I will back off some. Off to Bozeman for the day, which means no run tomorrow morning.

6.10 in 55:33 (9:06). Ran just under 5 with my bro. Ryan who lives down the street. He's just getting back into things with running. Averaged about 9:30s with him. Added on a bit after we split and picked the pace up a bit. I was perfectly fine with the slower pace today and the run went by fast cause we talked the whole time. Don't know if I'll get another run in before the marathon on Monday, but here is the itinerary:

Saturday - Leave in the morning and fly directly to Boston

Sunday - Baseball game and expo

Monday - Marathon

Tuesday - Freedom Trail and Celtics/Knicks playoff game

Wednesday - No plans yet, but our flight leaves in the early evening.

I'm sure there will be lots of eating and other things. The closer it gets, the more excited I get. Not nervous for the marathon mainly because I'll be taking it easy and hoping to cruise in at the finish around the 3:30 mark.

Boston Marathon (26.2 Miles) 03:22:10, Place overall: 4762, Place in age division: 2682

Total Distance

26.20

This race was awesome and exceeded all my expectations. I would highly recommend it to anybody that is thinking of coming to run it. It was freezing cold for the few hours that we (Mark and I) waited at the athletes village before the race started, but it warmed up very quickly. In fact, I got me a good sun burn on the right side of my body.

The plan was to take it easy, mainly because I wanted to enjoy things, but also because I wasn't in good enough shape to run it all out. I stuck to the plan extremely well and never felt out of my comfort zone. Walked through all the water stations, and really just enjoyed things.

Splits from my watch: 7:24, 7:18, 7:35, 7:33, 7:33, 7:28, 7:24, 7:35, 8:00 (bathroom stop), 7:31, 7:36, 7:32, 7:29, 7:36, 7:37, 7:26, 7:49, 7:43, 7:40, 7:49, 8:05, 7:29, 7:29, 7:51, 7:36, 8:00, 3:48. I obviously measured the course long at 26.53, but I was happy that I ran the second half only about 2:30 slower than the first half, and my splits were very even throughout.

Started off in corral 3 and realized that all the people around me were planning on running a lot faster than me. Wellesley and everything from about Boston College (mile 20ish) to the end were probably some of the best running moments of my life. It was so awesome and exhilirating. In fact, all the guys I was running with for the half mile leading up to Wellesley were commenting on how cool this part of the race is, and it lived up to it. It's so cool to hear the yells beforehand and then once you leave you can hear them for a bit. I realized that despite the fact that I was running pretty easily, it is still hard to run 26.2 miles and my legs started feeling it around the Newton Hills. Despite the fact that the hills were tough, I think I was in better shape than most of the other people I was around. Mark caught up to me around mile 16 or so and we ran together for a bit, but then I pulled ahead. I've never been able to run all the way through a marathon until this one, but it was just so awesome that I couldn't stop. Just tried to really enjoy things up through the finish line. Great experience and glad I did it.

Really hope to build off of this and train pretty diligently for the UVM half. Maybe with some focused work on the half I will be able to pull something great off.

10.25 in 1:22:48 (8:05). Been dying to run since the marathon. Headed up 300 West all the way and then towards Smiths Mktplace. Cut it off and headed home. Quads got tight on me after a couple miles and then sore after a few more miles. Probably shouldn't have run this much, but oh well.

7.60 in 59:03 (7:46). Better weather than expected. Ran up 300 West and back. Fought the wind a bit going out, but had it helping on the way back. Miles 5-7.60 splits: 7:14, 7:20, 7:22, 7:17 pace. And it didn't even feel like I was pushing it much, so that's good.

15.0 in 1:58:42 (7:55). Started alone at 5:40. Around 30 degrees but not an ounce of wind. Ran up 300 West then to Smiths Mktplace and then back down around my neighborhoods. Not a good run for me. Lots of starting and stopping (bathroom, shoe laces, etc) and never could get in a good groove. This was probably a bit further than I should have gone, but oh well. Thinking of doing the Provo City Half next week if I can still get in.....